Abstract:

Obstacles to mobility affect the most fundamental aspects of life: family, health, education, and life chances. How can post-secondary institutions work around these obstacles, if not challenge them? What can such institutions gain from changing and adapting to ensure openness to a variety of circumstances? This presentation describes how institutions around the world have “opened” to bring in, build, and connect together talent. From Palestine to Lebanon to First Nations, innovative post-secondary programs both inspire and are inspired by individuals who face challenging circumstances, and seek to change them.

Speaker:

Nadia ABU-ZAHRA | Associate Professor, School of International Development and Global Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ottawa

Nadia Abu-Zahra has broad interests in health, environmental issues, human rights, and education. Working with Oxfam-Quebec, and on other projects sponsored by UNICEF, the EU, and CIDA, she explored the possibilities of raising awareness of these issues. As a result of these projects, as well as academic work, she continues to think about the ethics of research and international development. Her writings are generally within these subject fields, with a recent focus on how states - and particularly their policies of identity documentation (passports, IDs, databases, etc.) - affect individuals and groups at personal levels.

*The Human Rights Research and Education Centre will film the presentation and may take pictures at this event for use on the website.